The invention concerns a self-propelled agricultural vehicle with a chassis, front and rear wheels and at least one working unit mounted by means of an arm to pivot vertically on the side of the chassis in order to assume at least one working and one transport position.
DE-U1-297 19 765 discloses an agricultural mowing vehicle with three mowing and conditioning units, one of which is mounted on the front of the chassis and the remaining two mounted so that one is one each side of the chassis. The lateral mowing and conditioning units are carried by vertical pivotable arms, which are mounted to pivot between the wheels of a front and rear axle on the chassis. The mowing and conditioning units in a transport position are pivoted into the free space between the wheels.
The aforementioned patented design has the disadvantages of the vehicle being specially designed to accommodate the mowing and conditioning units between its wheels, this special vehicle design resulting in a relatively long wheelbase which results in a large turning radius.
According to the present invention, there is provided an improved manner of mounting a pair of opposite, laterally extending work units between front and rear sets of wheels of a self-propelled vehicle.
An object of the invention is to provide a coupling arrangement between opposite sides of a vehicle chassis and work units which permits front and rear sets of wheels of the vehicle to be relatively close together so that the turning radius of the vehicle is acceptable.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide a vehicle, as set forth in the previous object, wherein the coupling arrangements for the work units permits the units to be lifted from a working position alongside the rear set of wheels to a transport position above and within the width of the rear set of wheels.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a vehicle and coupling arrangement, as set forth above, according to a first embodiment wherein the coupling arrangement is coupled to the chassis only at a location between the front and rear sets of wheels.
Another object of the invention is to provider a vehicle and coupling arrangement, as set forth above, according to a second embodiment wherein the main supporting structure of the lateral work units are mounted to a rear end of the chassis, with a stabilizing structure being located between the front and rear sets of wheels.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the ensuing description together with the appended drawings.